In traditional distribution of audio and/or video content such as music and movies, rights to copyrighted works are managed by the ownership of the physical medium containing the work. Ownership of the medium provides a limited barrier to unauthorized use. While piracy was and is prevalent with such traditional “packaged media”, the problems are dramatically multiplied in an environment of digital distribution of content. The owners of the content have devised various ways to help protect such content that have been collectively termed digital rights management (DRM). DRM encompasses not only the numerous encryption schemes that have been employed to protect the content, but also encompasses the various arrangements for permitting use of the content that have been created, as well as the monitoring and tracking of the rights to the content.
Several forms of DRM are currently in place in the marketplace. Perhaps the most dominant DRM forms a part of the Microsoft Windows® operating system's Media Player, and is referred to as “Reciprocal”. Another widely used DRM arrangement is built into the Real Networks' Real Player®. Currently the DRM solutions from Microsoft is tightly coupled with the compression algorithm. DRM solutions usually execute on personal computer (PC) platforms. Consequently, the DRM solutions are designed to detect software tampering, and thus efforts are made to obfuscate the operation of the executing software.
The above two examples of DRM are but two of an ever growing and evolving field of technology. Further DRM incarnations can be anticipated on a continuing basis to provide greater protection for the content against those who would illegally pirate the content.
Unfortunately, due to the multiple types of DRM that are available, customers may have to either acquire multiple sets of software (or plug-ins) that support the various DRM scenarios, or limit consumption of content to those DRMs which they wish to support on their computer.